Daily Mail: Al Qaeda to release cartoon film that encourages children to commit acts of terrorism

Al Qaeda sympathisers are planning to produce a children’s cartoon film to inspire young Muslim viewers to take up armed violence against the West, security specialists who monitor militant websites say.

Such a development would add to an expanding repertoire of media tactics employed by the trans-national group, which is placing increasing reliance on online propaganda to shore up support in the absence of successful attacks in the West.

British counter-extremism thinktank Quilliam said news of the planned movie was announced by a contributor calling himself Abu al-Laith al-Yemen, on the password-protected Arabic-language al-Shumukh online discussion forum on Sunday.

Message for children: An animated cartoon on the history and objectives of al Qaeda is aimed at recruiting children into the terror network

Al-Yemen said he and several associates were in the final stages of creating a cartoon about al Qaeda’s Yemen-based branch that would teach children the history of al Qaeda and inspire them to commit acts of terrorism.

Quilliam quoted al-Yemen as saying: ‘The cartoon movie Al-Qaeda In The Arabian Peninsula is a very exciting story that tells the facts about who let down the Islamic religion and the Prophet, and how the Arab leaders are agents of the West and other Islamic issues.’

Stills from the cartoon show masked figures firing rifles and executing captives, and al-Yemen said the cartoon would include depictions of real incidents – including ‘raids, armed engagements and assassinations’.

‘Raids, armed engagements and assassinations': Sources say the cartoon includes depictions of al Qaeda operations and captives being executed

He added: ‘This movie is a religious effort to educate our sons and youth about how to live a noble life under the shade of the Sharia. It’s an alternative to the poison that is broadcast by other TV channels broadcast to our children and youth.’

Will McCants, a leading scholar of militant Islamism and former U.S. State Department adviser on countering violent extremism, said he had not seen ‘anything like it’ before and was very sceptical the proposal was a real product.

He added: ‘But if it’s legit and anywhere near like the purported screen shots and promotional banner, it would indicate that [al Qaeda] is becoming even more sophisticated in its efforts to reach out to youth.’

Propaganda: Inspire is al Qaeda’s fanzine-style publication. The group is trying different recruiting methods

Composed largely of Yemeni and Saudi nationals, al Qaeda in Yeman and the Arab Peninsula is waging an armed campaign to topple the Yemeni government.

It has been responsible for several attempted bombings of Western targets, including a failed 2009 bid to down an airliner over Detroit.

But it has also helped to spearhead al Qaeda’s use of the Internet by producing sophisticated Arabic-language propaganda and a snazzy, fanzine-style online publication called Inspire, which is produced in English.

The group uses the net not only to recruit and coordinate, but also to produce sophisticated propaganda, often downloading and re-editing Western media footage, to shore up morale among its globally scattered community of supporters.

In a statement, Quilliam analyst Noman Benotman said many Muslim parents would see the venture as a direct attempt by al Qaeda to create divisions within families and to undermine the authority of parents.